California sets probate attorney fees by statute, so the number is knowable before you start. It is a percentage of the gross value of the estate, and the attorney and the executor are each entitled to that full amount.
That second sentence is where most people's stomachs drop, so let me put the arithmetic on the table instead of describing it.
| Portion of the gross estate | Rate | Fee on that slice |
|---|---|---|
| First $100,000 | 4% | $4,000 |
| Next $100,000 | 3% | $3,000 |
| Next $800,000 | 2% | $16,000 |
| Next $9,000,000 | 1% | up to $90,000 |
| Next $15,000,000 | 0.5% | up to $75,000 |
Gross value. Not your equity.
Section 10810 of the Probate Code sets those rates, and it applies them to the gross value of the estate before any mortgage is subtracted. A house in Mar Vista worth $1.2 million with $700,000 still owed on it is a $1.2 million probate, not a $500,000 one. The debt does not reduce the fee base. It reduces what the family receives, which means the percentage lands on a number the family will never actually see.
I will be blunt about this one. It is the least popular rule in California probate and there is no clever workaround once the person has died. The only place to fix it is before, by not having the asset go through probate at all. Here is what the schedule does at three ordinary Los Angeles numbers.
Three worked examples
| Gross estate | Attorney fee | Executor fee | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $13,000 | $13,000 | $26,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $23,000 | $23,000 | $46,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $28,000 | $28,000 | $56,000 |
Run the middle row slowly. Four percent of the first hundred thousand is $4,000. Three percent of the next hundred thousand is $3,000. Two percent of the remaining eight hundred thousand is $16,000. Total $23,000 for the attorney, and the same $23,000 for whoever serves as executor. A one million dollar house in Los Angeles is an entirely ordinary house. An executor who is also the sole beneficiary usually waives that second fee, since taking it just moves money into a taxable column.
Extraordinary fees, and what actually sidesteps all of this
The statutory percentage covers ordinary administration. Work outside that lane can be compensated separately if the court approves it. Selling real property, defending a will contest, and handling tax matters are the usual candidates. The court reviews those requests, and a judge who thinks the hours were padded will say so. A funded revocable trust avoids the percentage entirely, because it never gets calculated, and our flat fee is $2,900 for an individual trust and $3,600 for a couple.
“A client once asked me whether she could shop the fee. I told her she could, and that every firm in California would quote her the identical number, and that what she was really shopping for was who returns phone calls in month eleven. She hired me on that answer, which I appreciated.”
Delia Vasquez-HartQuestions we get asked
Is the statutory fee a maximum or a set amount?
It is the ordinary compensation allowed for standard administration. A firm cannot charge more for ordinary work without court approval of extraordinary fees, and in practice the schedule is what gets awarded.
When does the attorney get paid?
At the end, when the court approves the final petition. That is one honest feature of the system. Nobody collects the statutory fee up front.
Do life insurance and retirement accounts count toward the fee base?
Generally not, if they pass to a named beneficiary outside the estate. They are not part of the probate estate, so they are not part of the calculation.
What if the house sells for more than the appraised value?
The fee base follows the inventory value plus gains on sales during administration, so a higher sale price can raise the number. That surprises executors who assumed the appraisal locked it in.
Bring us the address and the approximate market value of the property and we will calculate the exact statutory fee for your situation on the phone, in about four minutes. (310) 555-0219.